Sustainability and Staging: an Introduction and Sustainable Staging Checklist
Staging has revolutionized the real estate industry by maximizing homes’ appeal and potential, drawing attention to selling features, and helping buyers to imagine the home as their own, so that homes are shown at their absolute best. Similarly, a green revolution is now sweeping new home builders as public awareness of global environmental problems, indoor air quality issues, and the need for energy and water conservation has become the new norm. The importance of this movement is underscored by recent estimates that our buildings are currently responsible for 35% of North American carbon dioxide emissions, and improving them will be the quickest and cheapest way to reduce North America’s impact on climate change. Sustainable staging brings the green revolution to the real estate resale market.
This is excerpted from my article, Sustainability and Staging (PDF), which introduces the principles of sustainable design, outlines the benefits of applying them in a real estate staging context, and provides a detailed checklist for decorators, redesigners, and stagers to use in greening their staging practices.
I am thrilled that this article will be incorporated into redesign and staging training provided by CRDA instructor Val Sharp. It is my wish that it be freely shared among interior decorators, redesigners, and stagers, so that sustainable best-practices will be quickly adopted within our industry.
(But please, don’t plagiarize it for your website. It’s bad karma. You may quote it if you ask my permission and provide a link back to this post. Thanks.)
Update (4 April 2009): If you have previously downloaded the PDF, you may have found it difficult to read and print due to the background graphic. The link above now leads to an updated, simpler version for your convenience.
Update (20 September 2009): I’m delighted that this article is to be reprinted in HomeStagersTODAY, the online publication of the British Academy of Home Stagers! [29 Oct 2009: find it in the Green Staging section!]
Tags: checklist, eco, green, real estate staging, sustainable
September 12th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I’d just like to add some links to the articles about ‘green staging’ I cite in my acknowledgements, plus another couple I have found since I wrote the article. They can be tricky to find in a Google search since there’s so much noise from general staging tips lists.
Lisa Kauffman Tharp has written a few times on her activerain blog about green staging. This is her checklist, with lots of great additions in comments by other stagers:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/38555/The-New-GREEN-STAGING
Cindy Lin writes frequently on her own blog at staged4more.com about environmental issues in staging:
http://staged4more.com/blog/2007/10/15/staging-for-the-green/
http://staged4more.com/blog/2008/06/11/being-green-can-be-your-market-differentiator/#more-326
http://staged4more.com/blog/2008/04/22/even-stagers-can-green-the-earth/
Jennie Norris shares a green staging project her firm did on activerain:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/352332/Going-Green-Eco-Friendly
John Turiano shares eco-friendly staging tips from Nancy Matchen on his blog:
http://www.westchestermagazine.com/Blogs/The-Speculator/August-2008/Clean-Mean-and-Oh-So-Green/
“Sustainability At Home: A Toolkit”, a workbook from The Natural Step Canada and Alberta Real Estate Foundation, is available as a free download from http://www.naturalstep.ca
Certified Staging Professionals’ new Eco-Staging training module is offered as a continuing education course to CSP graduates. More information at http://www.canadianstagingprofessionals.com/
April 4th, 2009 at 12:50 am
In further news, CSP are now partnering with the Live Green, Live Smart Institute (http://livegreenlivesmart.org/) to certify real estate agents, brokers, and stagers in the Green Build Science Programs. See http://www.csptraining.com/green_build_science.php
July 27th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
[...] features and renovation practices abound, including the USGBC’s ReGreen guidelines and my own Sustainable Staging article, but what does a sustainable renovation actually look [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 2:42 am
What works for Austin won’t always be helpful in our Northern climate, but this article by a Green Realtor & EcoBroker has some simple, low-cost ecostaging tips: http://www.sustainlane.com/reviews/green-staging-packs-a-punch-when-selling-your-home/MDK7OAYVVTY78J73CP38WV8UNAQI
September 19th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Here’s another article with some low-cost sustainable staging tips – this one is by Mico Smith and is on the Green Nation Today blog:
http://greennationtoday.com/home-staging-it-gets-results-and-its-green-821.html
September 20th, 2009 at 5:44 am
Update: CSP now have a separate website for their Eco-Staging(TM) training programme: http://www.ecostaging.com/
October 19th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Just now finding a minute to write and thank you for including my blog article about Green Staging here. You are a wealth of information,kudos on your blog and website! I would like to include you on my list of links down here in Austin, Texas. Best Wishes, Elizabeth G
March 16th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
I adore your site a lot. Will bookmark. Keep up to marvelous writing on it. Thank you